“The worst 24-hour period since this virus attacked people in the state of California,” Newsom said. “The worst number of deaths that we have experienced. That’s humbling and it should be eye-opening to people that think we’re out of the woods.”

The previous high for coronavirus deaths in a 24-hour period was 71, which the governor announced during his Tuesday press briefing.

Despite announcing at least 63 COVID-19-related deaths each day this week, the governor closed his Thursday address by telling Californians they “have successfully bent and arguably flattened the curve in the state of California.”

The numbers that give Newsom and other state officials confidence the curve is beginning to flatten in California are the hospitalization and ICU rates, which have slowed dramatically this week.

After announcing the number of patients hospitalized with the novel coronavirus decreased on Thursday for the first time since the pandemic began, Newsom said Friday the rate increased by 1.2 percent from previous total of 3,141 patients.

“We continue to have slowed down the rate of growth, we have bent the curve, it has begun to flatten, but again, it is not moving in the direction that we are ultimately ready to celebrate,” Newsom said.

The governor also said the number of patients requiring treatments in intensive care units decreased by 1.4 percent from the 1,191 patients in ICU units on Thursday.

“It’s beginning to flatten in the ICUs, but again, not enough to suggest that we are in that next phase that I talked about a few days ago,” Newsom said.

“The next phase,” which Newsom has repeatedly referred to since Monday, is a regional approach to reopening the state’s economy. Earlier this week, the governor announced six criteria the state will use to end California’s stay-at-home order, which is set to expire on Sunday, May 3.

Newsom said Friday that updates on the six criteria will be provided each Wednesday during his press briefings.

The governor also said the California Department of Public Health planned to release public data Friday with information on the outbreaks in skilled nursing facilities. More than 3,500 staff members and residents at more than 400 different facilities around the state have tested positive for the coronavirus, accounting for more than 10 percent of all the confirmed cases in California.

Newsom referenced a specific “flare up” at the Redwood Springs Nursing Home in Visalia where 157 people in a facility of 167 have tested positive for COVID-19 as cause for concern.

“I just cannot impress upon folks more this knows no geography, it knows certainly no party, it knows no region,” Newsom said. “This is impacting all of us across the state.”

After Newsom said more than 18,800 COVID-19 tests were conducted around the state on Wednesday, that number fell to 12,500 on Thursday. The governor said he still expects at least 25,000 tests to be conducted on a daily basis by the end of the month.

Kerry Crowley is a multimedia beat reporter covering the San Francisco Giants. He spent his early days throwing curveballs in San Francisco’s youth leagues before studying journalism at Arizona State University. Kerry has covered every level of baseball, from local preps to the Cape Cod League, and is now on a quest to determine which Major League city serves the best cheeseburger.

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